Better snowpack still not enough to fill C. Oregon reservoirs

Spring has officially started, and so has irrigation season. But despite a more solid snowpack this year, Central Oregon reservoirs are still not full.

“Tumalo Creek is a fabulous creek. The water here is ice-cold,” Tumalo Irrigation District Manager Ken Rieck said Monday.

The water comes straight from the glacier. This year, the Deschutes River is gushing — a stark difference from last year.

“It was a pretty rough year last year,” Rieck said. “We had extraordinarily low snowpack last year. It was the worst since the early ’90s.”

According to the Oregon Water Resources Department’s regional field office, Central Oregon is at 113 percent of average snowpack this year. Last year, it was just 15 percent of average.

“This year is much better than last year — but last year was so dismal, it’s not really worth considering,” Rieck said.

Despite the higher snowpack levels, drought problems are not yet water under the bridge.

“Last year, I said, ‘This is the third year of a seven-year drought,'” Rieck said. “This (year’s snowpack level) is almost the bare minimum we needed.”

None of the six Central Oregon reservoirs is full. The Tumalo Irrigation District is getting its water from Crescent Lake reservoir, which is currently 62 percent full.

“It will help to recharge a lot of the underground aquifers and springs,” Rieck said.

According to Rieck, it takes several years to fill up the reservoirs.

Another factor is the threatened Oregon spotted frog.

Tumalo Irrigation District released half of its water from Crescent Lake to benefit the habitat of the frog, the focus of a court fight over river management that led a federal judge recently to reject conservation groups’ request for a court order to force immediate changes..

“We use almost exactly what flows into Crescent Lake,” Rieck said. “So any changes in weather patterns or in our usage really shows up.”

Rieck said this year, they’re going to be able fulfill about 80 percent of their water contracts.

“There’s years when we deliver 100 percent, but we haven’t had that in four years,” Rieck said.

It’s a better irrigation season, to be sure. But Central Oregon is still not in the clear.